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Booming Stablecoin Industry Comes Together to Form Historic Global Alliance

Collective body will collaborate to drive long-term consumer adoption

S&W Press Release

October 29, 2018

London, UK - October 29, 2018 - History was made in the cryptocurrency world last week, as 25 stablecoin issuers from 16 countries came together for an inaugural industry event on October 25th at The Reform Club in London. Following the event, project representatives and stakeholders pledged to join forces and form a collective network of stablecoin issuers, investors, exchanges, service providers and legal experts. The participants agreed to work together, meet on a regular basis and create a representative organisation to help drive widespread consumer adoption of stablecoins.

Throughout the course of this year, a new digital asset class of private monies called "stablecoins" has emerged. To date, ~$350 million has been invested in this cryptocurrency market niche and 120 issuers have already been identified, with this number continuing to grow. Historically, exchanges issued their own stablecoins (e.g. Tether by Bitfinex). However, the industry today is changing, as countries, banks, multinational institutions, platforms and service providers are now entering the market.

Sponsored by Edan Yago, founder of the unified stablecoin ecosystem CementDAO, event co-organisers Alexander Panasuk and Leon Markovitz, editors of Stable.Report and Joel Telpner, head of the Fintech & Blockchain Practice at Sullivan & Worcester, the team put together the first ever stablecoin trade event. At the event, delegates agreed to form working groups to focus on: market enablers, standards, building relationships with regulators and decentralized methods of collaboration.

Edan Yago, CementDAO: "There is a need for a currency as global as we are, so we need to figure out ways to collaborate in a non-hierarchical and decentralized manner. We believe we’re stronger when we come together and this union will enable the industry to build a fair, open, more innovative space for everyone."

Nevin Freeman, co-founder of Reserve, who spoke at the event: "It’s difficult to get a group of competitive teams to come together, even if they do have a shared interest, but building these relationships will be really important to developing the stablecoin ecosystem over the coming years. As an industry, we have to be careful to work together to guide the right projects to success, because it’s not about us. It’s about the success of the wider financial system."

Joel Telpner, Sullivan & Worcester: "In coming together to create a forum for collectively educating regulators and consumers and for proposing market-wide best practices, the stablecoin industry is taking a significant and positive leap forward."

Alexander Panasuk and León Markovitz, Stable.Report: "We’re passionate about the rapidly growing stablecoin space! We’ve identified 120 issuer projects that are working on solutions to bring stability to a volatile crypto market. Our survey clearly showed the community’s desire to come together and collaborate on shared priorities, such as providing consumer education and protection. We’re thrilled to be building the foundations of a decentralized economy."